


pretense

by dreamsdark



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Pining, shinon makes increasingly bad decisions: the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 03:12:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsdark/pseuds/dreamsdark
Summary: Surely, something fake had to be better than nothing at all.





	pretense

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SylphEmblem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SylphEmblem/gifts).



> happy (extremely late) bday sylph!  
> man it's already been over a year...i feel like i just wrote the one i did last year
> 
> this is the super indulgent fake dating au, of course
> 
> it's also maybe a little rushed . ..my free time rn is like -1 lol

The thing Shinon probably regretted the most was that he _hadn’t_ been drunk. No, he’d been completely sober when he’d agreed to what was probably Gatrie’s worst plan ever, so now what was he supposed to blame for this mess?

The obvious answer was Gatrie himself, currently sitting across him and finishing off his dessert without a care in the world. “Sure you don’t want any?” He held the last spoon out, which Shinon batted away hastily. Really, did he never realize what that looked like… Apparently not, which is why they were in this situation in the first place.

Gatrie shrugged, licking the spoon clean. Shinon tried to not stare. “Think this’d be a good place for a date?” There it was.

“Fuck if I know.” (Yes. It was why Shinon always dragged Gatrie here specifically when he’d managed to wrangle yet another free dinner out of him.)

“Hm…but Astrid probably wouldn’t just show up here, right?”

“No shit.” It was hard to enjoy his fantasy when Gatrie wouldn’t stop interrupting him with his plan of pretending to date him only to try and get Astrid jealous. Which was a plan so unbelievably _stupid_ , but one which Shinon had agreed to anyway in a moment of absolutely pathetic longing. Fake dating was better than nothing, right?

Wrong. It was already unbearable listening to Gatrie prattle on about Astrid—Shinon got his fill of that a long while ago—but having to be constantly reminded of how unachievable the real thing was pulling at his already fraying nerves. “Something wrong?”

“No. Let’s go.” Another moment here and Shinon was liable to snap at the happy couple sitting at the next table.

“If you say so…”

* * *

 

Gatrie’s plan—no, it was not _their_ plan, he was completely opposed to this, even though he was part of it and hadn’t actually backed out—was attempted the very next day, when Astrid passed them after breakfast.

Apparently, Crimea was having some trouble with bandits near the Gallian border, and the Greil Mercenaries happened to be in the area, so it was the logical action to team up. Shinon still thought Mist was in over her head, and knights still pissed him off, but he’d held his tongue just the once.

He’d regretted it the moment he saw Astrid’s face, but it was too late by then. Her completely guileless nature had pissed him off even more—couldn’t she actually do something he could properly hate her for this time, at least? Gatrie’s bright smile in response had him already wishing for a bottle.

She wished them a good morning, with her same sincerity she did everything else with.

“Good morning to you too, Astrid!”

Shinon just stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly remembered his place. “…Mm.” Whatever, she wasn’t getting more than that out of him.

“I’m going to practice before we head out; would you like to join me?”

He blinked. “No.”

Astrid, to her credit, didn’t even seem fazed. She only nodded, then turned to leave.

Somehow, that was what triggered Gatrie’s memory, and he reached out a hand in vain, calling out, “Wai— _mmph!_ ”

There was no way Shinon was letting him call back Astrid just to awkwardly pretend they were together. So he had to shut up Gatrie in the one way he could think of in the moment.

Gatrie, for some reason, didn’t throw him off immediately. Instead, he froze for a good few seconds, wide-eyed—nevermind, he’d just freak out when he realized what was happening, for sure.

But of course, Gatrie never did what Shinon expected him to. His eyes fell closed slowly, and a hand carefully found its way into Shinon’s hair, tilting his head just enough to stop their noses from being smushed together.

Maybe Shinon hadn’t actually woken up today. Maybe he was still dreaming. Hell, maybe he’d died in the snow all the way back in Daein, and he was hallucinating Gatrie coming back from him before—

“Shinon?”

Ah…they’d stopped. “What.” Even he didn’t know how he managed to keep his own voice from shaking.

Gatrie was blushing faintly. “Uh…” He fiddled with some loose threads of his shirt. “I…thanks…?”

“For what?” Nothing was making sense anymore.

“Kissing is a faster way to explain things than what I was thinking…so, thanks! Though it was a bit late, eheh…” Right, of course, it was all part of Gatrie’s nonsensical plan to get Astrid’s attention. Shinon quickly looked around—thankfully no one was too close, so no one had probably seen what just happened.

It’d be all too easy to stop this doomed plan in its tracks. _You know, to get someone jealous, they have to actually be interested in you first?_ But it was too perfect of an excuse. “…Sure.”

If it could get Shinon another kiss, even under false pretenses, it’d be worth it.

(Probably.)

**Author's Note:**

> u ever feel sorry for the ppl who have to put up w their nonsense lol
> 
> anyway i'm usually on twitter ([@endsream](https://twitter.com/endsream))


End file.
